but the woodlands and certain trees were being manipulated early on. There is a general sense that people in the past were not as smart as we are said Crawford.
For his dissertation in the early 70s he studied the forests along the river. Two years ago he looked at
When they do emerge salamanders can be spotted not only on forest floors but also up in trees and on other vegetation oftentimes climbing as high as 8 feet up.
The mountain range's moist forests make it a global hot spot for a variety of salamander species. Connette said that by testing a possible explanation for climbing behavior the research also provides important background information about how salamanders can exist in high densities
in North american forests. The study Relationship between diet and microhabitat use of red-legged salamanders (Plethodon shermani) in southwestern North carolina appeared in the journal Copeia.
This farming people would then have differentiated gradually genetically from the pygmy hunter-gatherers communities living in forests.
and plan for the possibility of increased water losses from forest evaporation. According to the researchers runoff from mountain ranges is vulnerable to temperature hikes that lengthen growing seasons and result in more vegetation growth at high elevations.
Snow-dominated mountain forests that are currently dormant in winter with cold temperatures have lower vegetative density
Most people have heard about the giant forests around Yosemite and Sequoia national parks but these areas have not been a focus of this type of research.
An upslope expansion of forest with warming would cause a large increase in evaporative water loss and lead to reduced water availability.
and colleagues used leaf vein density a trait visible on leaf compression fossils to document the occurrence of stratified forests with a canopy dominated by flowering plants.
Panamanian tropical forests and one temperate forest in Maryland (USA. The team also compared the leaf vein values of canopy-top
(i e. leaf litter on the forest floor). The authors show that venation density like plant metabolism
(i e. transpiration and photosynthesis) is higher in the leaves located in the forest canopy and decreases in leaves at lower levels.
Furthermore they found that leaves from the forest floor which are the closest analog to fossil floras preserve this pattern.
when flowering plants became part of the upper forest canopy. Vein density values similar to present ones appeared about 58 million years ago indicating that the emergence of flowering plants in the canopy occurred by the Paleocene.
A further tenth of the world's pristine tropical forests would disappear over the next 35 years.
and modeling to help the Indonesian Forest Research and development Agency assess the progress being made to reduce carbon emissions from Borneo's ancient peat swamp forest.
Creating disastrous situationthe peat forest soils consist of large accumulations of dead organic matter some of it tens of thousands of years old that are more than 20 feet deep Cochrane explains.
Cochrane estimates that the peat contains 20 times as much carbon as the forest trees themselves did.
when the forest was cleared and the land drained. But areas of forest that are thinned simply are harder to track he explains.
#Less than $200 million would conserve precious Atlantic Forest in Brazil, say researchersbrazil could conserve its valuable Atlantic Forest by investing just 0. 01 per cent of its annual GDP according to a new study.
The Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlã¢ntica) is one of the most important and threatened biodiversity hotspots in the world containing the only living examples of nearly 10000 species of plant and more bird species than all of Europe.
Situated along the Atlantic coast of Brazil it once covered an area of nearly 1. 5 million square kilometres.
Today the forest is home to more than 130 million people and it covers only 160000 km2 because of deforestation.
Reporting in the journal Science a team of international scientists have calculated that it would cost US$198 million per year to pay private owners to set aside land for reforestation.
and many of the benefits that come from the forest's ecosystem such as pest control and pollination.
There are already some schemes in Brazil to pay private land owners to set aside land to conserve the forest preserve species
and improving the conditions of the forest as a whole. Lead researcher Dr Cristina Banks-Leite from the Department of Life sciences at Imperial College London said:
The Atlantic Forest is smaller and far more degraded than the Amazon rainforest but it is also contains a vast range of biological diversity.
The forest is a crucial habitat that is home to more than half of Brazil's threatened animal species. At the moment outside of protected areas nearly 90 per cent of the Atlantic Forest has less than 30 per cent of forest cover remaining.
Our study shows that it would be relatively cheap to secure the future of the forest
In this new study scientists calculated how much it would cost to set aside land in priority landscapes across the whole Atlantic Forest
and how many species are currently living in pristine and degraded areas of the Atlantic Forest.
Jean paul Metzger from the University of SãO Paulo collected data on birds mammals and amphibians living in the forest.
They collected data in 79 different forest regions across 150 kilometres and estimated that to maintain a similar level of biodiversity
To evaluate overall costs of maintaining minimum forest cover the scientists combined current estimates of existing forest cover with average costs paid to private land owners
and found that preserving the forest is feasible and low-cost. Prof. Jean paul Metzger from the University of Sao paulo another lead author of the study said:
and should be incorporated into different land use policies such as the Brazilian Forest Code programs for ecosystems payments or in socioenvironmental certification incentives.
Areas with carbon-rich ecosystems with key wilderness habitats such as tropical forests were identified as those where new roads would cause the most environmental damage with the lease human benefit particularly areas where few roads currently exist.
#More wolf spiders feasting on American toads due to invasive grass, study showsan invasive grass species frequently found in forests has created a thriving habitat for wolf spiders who then feed on American toads a new University of Georgia study has found.
and in forests it can survive in widely diverse ecosystems and has been found to impact native plant species invertebrate populations and soil nutrients.
John Maerz an associate professor in UGA's Warnell School of Forestry and Natural resources and one of the paper's authors said they found the grass had the greatest negative impact on toad survival in forests where toad survival
In other words the grass is degrading the best forests for young toad survival Maerz said. Another important finding was that the invasive grass affects toads by changing interactions among native species rather than the grass having a direct effect on the native toads.
Maerz has been interested in the effects of Japanese stiltgrass on forest ecosystems for years When Devore and Maerz originally found lower survival of American toads at eight locations in Georgia where stiltgrass is actively invading they initially speculated that the grass was reducing the toads'food supply by reducing insect populations--few native insects eat the Asian
and incredibly abundant predators on the forest floor and they will eat many of the small species that live there
which invasion by this Asian plant may influence species on the forest floor. We documented changes in invertebrate densities
whether warming causes scale insect population explosions in rural forests the way it does in cities.
Given the shared urban and historical pattern the researchers also predicted that scale insects would be more abundant in rural forests today than in the past as a result of recent climate warming.
It is shown that far from being serious agricultural weeds all the New zealand Kunzea are important keystone species either forming their own distinct forest types
or helping to heal damaged forest. Furthermore the New zealand Kunzea species provide an important habitat for a wealth of endemic geckos orchids
And in India bamboo plantations produce about 40 percent more biomass than dry deciduous tropical forests.
Forests creeping steadily north and becoming established in the thawing Arctic is just one of the predicted effects of rising global temperatures.
and served as a model for genome-level insights in forest trees. The publication itself has been cited more than 1000 times in a wide variety of journals.
but also for their economic importance in fields ranging from timber to bioenergy Evans noted that the ability to have plantations of poplars through vegetative propagation is a significant tree-breeding tool for picking the appropriate stocks for the task.
Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is converted thereafter to a nonforest use.
Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms ranches or urban use. The herringbone-patterned tan lines cutting through the dark green of the Amazon Rainforest in the middle of the image are evidence of deforestation in the Brazilian state of Parã¡.
The beginning of the forest loss coincides with a 1979 decision by Brazil's Program of National Integration to build roads across the forest
and also the average size of each fire ballooning the number of on-call U s. Forest Service firefighters
If a fire began in the forest where would the perimeter be in two hours four hours or six hours?
With funding from the U s. Department of agriculture's U s. Forest Service Division Dr. Mahalingam and his collaborator UAH Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering faculty member Dr. Babak Shotorban are currently supervising four doctoral
Dr. Mahalingam studied that more closely in association with the U s. Forest Service while at the University of California Riverside.
D. R. Weise Numerical investigation of influence of moisture content on thermal behavior of heated wood Paper 070fr-0208 presented at the 8th U s. National Combustion
and forest cover with development a major contributing factor. Overall 8. 2 percent of the nation's ocean and Great lakes coastal regions experienced these changes.
in Charleston S. C. Among the significant changes were the loss of 1536 square miles of wetlands and a decline in total forest cover by 6. 1 percent.
and includes loss of forest cover in an overall larger land area survey. Both wetlands and forest cover are critical to the promotion and protection of coastal habitat for the nation's multi-billion dollar commercial and recreational fishing industries..
Development was a major contributing factor in the decline of both categories of land cover. Wetland loss due to development equals 642 square miles a disappearance rate averaging 61 football fields lost daily.
Forest changes overall totaled 27515 square miles equaling West virginia Rhode island and Delaware combined. This total impact
however was partially offset by reforestation growth. Still the net forest cover loss was 16483 square miles.
These findings and many others are viewable via the Land Cover Atlas program from the NOAA's Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP.
C-CAP data identify a wide variety of land cover changes that can intensify climate change risks-for example forest
and water quality issues or weaken the area's fishing and forestry industries. The atlas's visuals help make NOAA environmental data available to end users enabling them to help the public better understand the importance of improving resilience.
whom they traditionally traded forest products for grain and sometimes intermarry. The researchers also looked at the Baka rainforest hunter-gatherers
#Worlds primary forests on the brink, study concludesan international team of conservationist scientists and practitioners has published new research showing the precarious state of the world's primary forests.
and reveals that only five percent of the world's pre-agricultural primary forest cover is now found in protected areas.
Led by Professor Brendan Mackey Director of the Climate Change Response Program at Griffith University in Queensland Australia the authors are experts in forest ecology conservation biology international policy
and practical forest conservation issues. Representing organizations such as the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society the Zoological Society of London the Geos Institute
and Australian National University they conclude that primary forest protection is the joint responsibility of developed as well as developing countries
Primary forests--largely ignored by policy makers and under increasing land use threats--are forests where there are no visible indications of human activities especially industrial-scale land use
and ecological processes have not been disrupted significantly. These forests are home to an extraordinary richness of biodiversity with up to 57 percent of all tropical forest species dependent on primary forest habitat
and the ecological processes they provide. The analysis shows that almost 98 per cent of primary forest is found within 25 countries with around half of that located in five developed countries:
the U s. Canada Russia Australia and New zealand. Professor Mackey warns that industrial logging mining and agriculture gravely threaten primary forests
and those outside of protected areas are especially vulnerable. He adds that policies are needed urgently to reduce pressure to open up primary forests for industrial land use.
International negotiations are failing to halt the loss of the world's most important primary forests says Professor Mackey.
In the absence of specific policies for primary forest protection in biodiversity and climate change treaties their unique biodiversity values
and ecosystem services will continue to be lost in both developed and developing countries. Co-author James Watson of the Wildlife Conservation Society says:
Primary forests are a matter of significant conservation concern. Most forest-endemic biodiversity needs primary forest for their long-term persistence
and large intact forest landscapes are under increasingly pressure from incompatible land use. The authors identify four new actions that would provide a solid policy foundation for key international negotiations including forest-related multilateral agreements to help ensure primary forests persist into the 21st century:
1 Recognize primary forests as a matter of global concern within international negotiations and not just as a problem in developing nations;
2 Incorporate primary forests into environmental accounting including the special contributions of their ecosystem services (including freshwater
and watershed services) and use a science-based definition to distinguish primary forests; 3 Prioritize the principle of avoided loss--emphasize policies that seek to avoid any further biodiversity loss and emissions from primary forest deforestation and degradation;
4 Universally accept the important role of indigenous and community conserved areas--governments could use primary forest protection as a mechanism within multilateral environmental agreements to support sustainable livelihoods for the extensive populations
of forest-dwelling peoples especially traditional peoples in developed and developing countries. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Wildlife Conservation Society.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference e
#Human milk fat improves growth in premature infantsfor premature infants adequate growth while in the neonatal intensive care unit is an indicator of better long-term health and developmental outcomes.
Researchers at the USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research center at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital have incorporated now successfully a cream supplement into premature infants'diets that improved their growth outcomes in the NICU.
The report appears in the Journal of Pediatrics. For premature babies who weigh less than 1000 grams (about 2 pounds 2 ounces) one of the problems is that their lungs
The scientists examined the issue by measuring the isotopic composition of carbon in the wood along the intense rainfall gradient in their study zone.
But if both factors limit tree height the heavier carbon isotopes should accumulate in moister areas where faster photosynthesis (enhanced by wide-open stomata) can balance the costs of building more wood in taller trees.
and Robert Vajtai a senior faculty fellow and Pulickel Ajayan the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Engineering professor of materials science and nanoengineering and of chemistry and chair
#Effect of habitat fragmentation on forest carbon cycle revealed by studydrier conditions at the edges of forest patches slow down the decay of dead wood
and significantly alter the cycling of carbon and nutrients in woodland ecosystems according to a new study.
Forests around the world have become increasingly fragmented and in the UK three quarters of woodland area lie within 100 metres of the forest edge.
and moisture (the'microclimate')in woodlands but the influence on the carbon cycle is largely unknown.
Wood blocks were placed in Wytham Woods near Oxford at various distances from the forest edge and left to decay over two years.
The measured decay rates were applied to a model of the surrounding landscape to allow comparison between the current fragmented woodland cover
and decay rates in continuous forest. The research published today in the journal Global Change Biology shows that wood decay rates in the southern UK are reduced by around one quarter due to fragmentation.
This effect is much larger than expected due to variation in temperatures and rainfall among years.
which we believe was driven by reduced moisture at the forest edge impairing the activity of saprotrophic fungi--those that live
The difference between the absorption of carbon dioxide via photosynthesis by trees and the release of carbon by microbes determines the overall carbon balance of the forest.
and nutrients from wood in forests and their responses to changes in microclimate driven by fragmentation
whether forests are a carbon source or sink. The southern UK has a temperate climate with moderate temperatures and rainfall.
and storm flow from forest watersheds in the southern Appalachians according to a new study by U s. Forest Service scientists at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory (Coweeta) located in Otto North carolina.
Because of its dense evergreen foliage eastern hemlock plays an important role in the water cycle of southern Appalachian forests regulating stream flow year round.
Although eastern hemlock rarely dominates the region's forests the tree is considered a foundation species in the streamside areas called riparian zones.
For this study Coweeta researchers used a paired watershed approach--one watershed with a major hemlock component in the riparian forest area the other reference watershed with very little--to determine the effects of hemlock mortality
Since hemlock woolly adelgid was detected first in 2003 all the eastern hemlock trees in both watersheds died resulting in a loss of 26 percent of forest basal area (that area occupied by tree trunks
and stems) in the riparian area of the first watershed compared to a 4 percent loss in the reference watershed riparian forest.
The fact that hemlock loss didn't increase water yield in the short-term was due to the rapid growth response of cooccurring trees and shrubs in the riparian forests;
The above story is provided based on materials by USDA Forest Service â#Southern Research Station. Note:
and range from San mateo County in the north to Santa barbara County in the South sea otters live offshore in forests of kelp--huge yellow-brown rubbery seaweed reaching from the sea floor to the surface like tall trees.
which in unchecked hordes will chew through the holdfasts of the kelp leaving vast barrens in place of the vibrant forests.
Without sea otters the undersea sea urchins they prey on would devour the kelp forests resulting in dense areas called sea urchin barrens that have lower biodiversity due to the loss of kelp that provide 3-dimensional habitat
As a result the kelp forest begins to grow back changing the structure of kelp forest communities.
Many fish marine mammals and birds are also found in kelp forest communities including rockfish seals sea lions whales gulls terns snowy egrets as well as some shore birds.
because healthy kelp forests can grow rapidly and store large amounts of carbon. Dr. Martone's analyses of the effects of sea otters on kelp forest ecosystems can help shape predictions of how climate change
and trophic cascades in concert with other drivers affect coastal ecosystems. The ecological impacts of a changing climate are evident from terrestrial polar regions to tropical marine environments.
and response Wendy Wood explains in her session at the American Psychological Association's 122nd Annual Convention.
There is a dual mind at play Wood explains. When our intentional mind is engaged we act in ways that meet an outcome we desire
Even when you know the right answer you can't make yourself change the habitual behavior Wood says.
Forty percent of the time we're not thinking about what we're doing Wood interjects.
According to Wood there are three main principles to consider when effectively changing habitual behavior. First you must derail existing habits
There's no easy formula for how long it takes Wood says. Lastly there must be stable context cues available
if it's repeated in a specific context Wood emphasizes. Flossing after you brush your teeth allows the act of brushing to be the cue to remember to floss.
14 Roman and Etruscan bronze vessels nearly 500 waterlogged grape seeds and an enormous amount of rare waterlogged wood from both Roman and Etruscan times.
The remarkable amounts of well-preserved wood found at the bottom of the well also were most likely ritual offerings.
Many of the pieces of wood were worked and already several objects have been identified such as parts of buckets a spatula
He and his colleagues reviewed Forest Service records dating to 1910 as well as a wealth of newspaper clippings compiled by a Works Progress Administration archival project that stretch back to the middle of the last century.
the mountain forests and the lower elevation chaparral oak woodlands and grasslands. The chaparral shrublands of southern California and similar sagebrush ecosystems in the Great Basin are adapted not to the kind of frequent fire typical of the mountain conifer forests in California.
Fires in the lower elevation ecosystems are always crown fires which kill most of the vegetation.
In high elevation conifer forests spring temperatures and drought are correlated strongly with fire and Keeley thinks climate change
and forests in U s a special section of the September issue of Forest Ecology and Management available online now assesses the interactions among fire climate change
Chelcy Miniat from the U s. Forest Service Monique Rocca from Colorado State university and Robert Mitchell (now deceased) from the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research center--started the project by organizing teams of scientists from the Forest Service
I was working with the U s. Global Change Research Program a few years ago said Miniat project leader with the Forest Service Southern Research Station.
We wanted to tailor this information for forest managers. Articles in the special section review the interactions between climate and fire in five different regions of the U s--the Pacific Northwest Southwest Rocky mountains Mid-atlantic and Southeast.
Each article follows the same general structure providing a description of the region and its forest types;
discussion of projected changes in climate and how they will likely impact fire and forests;
and a synthesis of what is known about the effects of fire on forest ecosystem services such as water quantity and quality air quality and biodiversity.
but also to inform the conversation on how forest management choices can impact the valuable services we derive from our forests.
The above story is provided based on materials by USDA Forest Service â#Southern Research Station. Note:
#Climate change is fueling forest disturbances, study showsclimate change is already altering the environment. Long-lived ecosystems such as forests are particularly vulnerable to the comparatively rapid changes in the climate system.
A new international study published this week in Nature Climate Change shows that damage from wind bark beetles
and wildfires has increased drastically in Europe's forests in recent years. Disturbances like windthrow and forest fires are part of the natural dynamics of forest ecosystems
and are not therefore a catastrophe for the ecosystem as such. However these disturbances have intensified considerably in recent decades
which increasingly challenges the sustainable management of forest ecosystems says Rupert Seidl BOKU Vienna the principal researcher involved in the study.
The authors show that damage caused by forest disturbance has increased continuously over the last 40 years in Europe reaching 56 million cubic meters of timber per year in the period 2002--2010.
the study estimates that forest disturbances will increase damage by another million cubic meters of timber every year over the next 20 years.
This increase amounts to the approximate timber volume stocking on a forest area corresponding to 7000 soccer fields.
under assumed stable climatic conditions no substantial further increases in forest disturbances beyond the current levels were found in their simulations.
Increasing disturbances amplify climate changethere is strong feedback from forest disturbances on the climate system.
Currently Europe's forests are mitigating climate change by taking up large quantities of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.
and reverse the positive effects of forest management aimed at reducing climate change. The climate-induced increase in forest disturbance could
thus further amplify the progression of climate change. In this respect adapted management strategies such as increased biodiversity and optimized thinning interventions in Europe's forests can buffer these carbon losses and support the climate change mitigation function of forests.
Europe's forest management will need thus to adapt to changing disturbances in order to keep sustaining the diverse set of ecosystem services provided to society in the future the study concludes.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by European Forest Institute. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
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